Chelsea finally got a proper striker. After implying only Nicolas Jackson as the lone number 9, the wealthy Blues, who spent over 1.5 billion on various players finally got the second striker they desperately needed all of last year. The striker of relegated Premier League side Ipswich had a season with 12 goals in 37 matches — not exactly a jaw-dropping performance — and it doesn’t help his case that Ipswich was swiftly relegated back to the Championship. Chelsea has beaten Manchester United and Newcastle in the race to sign Liam Delap, with the price determined by the activation of a relegation release clause The young forward has signed a six-year deal with the Blues, running until June 2031. According to Sky Sports, Chelsea will pay 25,000,000 up front, while the remainder will be paid in installments. Manchester City will receive 20% of this sale. But why did Delap chose Chelsea?Liam Delap, welcome to our house. 🏡 pic.twitter.com/EO3GIT0mlv— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) June 4, 2025 The West London club is not a shining example of stability, but to be fair, not are Manchester United or Newcastle. Nottingham Forest were also interested, but this transfer never looked to be a realistic one. So, why Chelsea won at the end? The price for Delap was affordable for almost everybody (even Everton was interested) as his relegation clause was so cheap (30 million pounds), and Manchester City was the first in line. The Citizens, who sold him to Ipswich had a buy-back clause set at 40 million, but with Haaland in the team along Marmoush (bought in January), this was never a realistic transfer. United is still a big club and his former academy boss in City Jason Wilcox is now technical director at Old Trafford. In Newcastle he was never gonna be the first striker as long as Alexander Isak was there, but he would surely play, considering the fact that the Swede striker is often injured and that the Magpies have four competition to participate in from next season.Man Utd, Newcastle, Forest and Everton wanted him, but Delap has already made decisionHowever, the blend of his future teammates and the familiar faces in the club was what eventually prevailed in Delap’s decision to move to Stamford Bridge. He will join a young locker room, where most of the players are his age and many of whom are his former England teammates. One of the oldest veterans in Chelsea is Reece James, and he is only 25. Since the takeover, the Blues never paid for a player older than 25 years. Second reason is his familiarity with Chelsea’s sporting section. He was signed by City from Derby County’s youth system in 2019 by Joe Shields, who is now Chelsea’s co-director of recruitment. Another familiar face from City, their former head of academy coaching, Glenn van der Kraan, is also now at Chelsea in a similar role. Andrew Cousins was the director of professional football and scouting at Stoke and brought Delap in on loan — he is now head of scouting at Chelsea. Justin Walker coached Delap in Derby’s academy.##NAJAVA_MECA_8963292##Maybe the biggest reason was the coach. Head coach Enzo Maresca has known Delap since he was 16 and their time together at Manchester City, when he was coach of their Elite Development Squad (their under-23). That team won the Premier League 2 title in 2020-21, with Delap scoring 24 goals in 20 games, including three hat-tricks. And let’s also not forget the friendly relations between Chelsea and Ipswich, which resulted in a short and swift negotiations. The Blues sent Omari Hutchinson on a loan to Ipswich which turned into a permanent deal and the relegated club is keen to add Chelsea’s striker Marc Guiu on loan this season.
